Reading is a creative activity. The reception of a biblical text depends upon the interpreting subject: his or her background, assumptions, experience, cognitive capabilities and — so this paper argues — upon the reader's gender. Two studies of the role of gender in children's reception of biblical texts are examined. The first, by Stuart Charmé, studies the role of gender in children's readings of the Genesis story of Adam and Eve. The second, by Silvia Arzt, studies the role (...) of gender in children's readings of the story of Vashti in 1 Esther. Both studies reveal that the way in which girls and boys react to religious ideas and texts differs significantly. The paper argues that this should be taken more account of in religious education classes. (shrink)

This article examines capacity development for collective action and institutional change through the implementation of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives. We integrate Hargrave and Van de Ven’s (2006, Academy of Management Review31(4), 864–888) Collective Action Model with capacity development literature to develop a framework that can be used to clarify the nature of CSR involvement in capacity development, help identify alternative CSR response options, consider expected impacts of these options on stakeholders, and highlight trade-offs across alternative CSR investments. Our framework (...) encompasses CSR program investments in the capacities of individuals, organizations, and collaborations, as also their impact on the larger enabling environment. We then use this framework to provide descriptive evidence of two implementations: (1) The PhD Project, whose mission is to increase the diversity of corporate America by increasing the diversity of business school faculty, and (2) Involve, the community involvement program at KPMG, one of the Big Four Accounting firms. We discuss implications of our framework for managerial practice and future research. (shrink)

In this paper, we focus on spatial formations when interacting via mobile robotic telepresence systems. Previous research has found that those who used a MRP system to make a remote visit tended to use different spatial formations from what is typical in human-human interaction. In this paper, we present the results of a study where a pilot user interacted with ten elderly via a MRP system. Intentional deviations from known accepted spatial formations were made in order to study their effect (...) on interaction quality from the local user perspective. Using a retrospective interviews technique, the elderly commented on the interaction and confirmed the importance of adhering to acceptable spatial configurations. The results show that there is a mismatch between pilot user behaviour and local user preference and that it is important to evaluate a MRP system from two perspectives, the pilot user’s and the local user’s. Keywords: F-formations; Mobile Robotic Telepresence; MRP systems; Quality of Interaction; Retrospective Interview; Spatial Formations; Spatial Configurations. (shrink)

In this paper, we focus on spatial formations when interacting via mobile robotic telepresence systems. Previous research has found that those who used a MRP system to make a remote visit tended to use different spatial formations from what is typical in human-human interaction. In this paper, we present the results of a study where a pilot user interacted with ten elderly via a MRP system. Intentional deviations from known accepted spatial formations were made in order to study their effect (...) on interaction quality from the local user perspective. Using a retrospective interviews technique, the elderly commented on the interaction and confirmed the importance of adhering to acceptable spatial configurations. The results show that there is a mismatch between pilot user behaviour and local user preference and that it is important to evaluate a MRP system from two perspectives, the pilot user’s and the local user’s. Keywords: F-formations; Mobile Robotic Telepresence; MRP systems; Quality of Interaction; Retrospective Interview; Spatial Formations; Spatial Configurations. (shrink)

Background The 2020-2021 coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic is just the latest epidemic event that requires us to rethink and change our understanding of health. Health should no longer be conceived only in relation to human beings, but in unitary terms, as a dimension that connects humans, animals, plants, and the environment (holistic view, One Health). In general, alterations occurring in this articulated chain of life trigger a domino effect. Methodology In this paper, we review the One Health paradigm in the light (...) of the Covid-19 pandemic and distinguish two approaches within it that might be dubbed the Prudent one and the Radical one. Each approach is structured in three levels – epistemological, medical, and ethical. Results In this way, we show how we humans can better address the pandemic today and how, in the future, we can treat the whole living system better, by renouncing our anthropocentric perspective on health. Conclusion We hold that the Prudent approach can be very helpful, and we discuss the medical and ethical issues related to it. We also consider the Radical view and the epistemological turn it requires compared to the Prudent one. (shrink)

IntroductionPalliative care is an emotionally and spiritually high-demanding setting of care. The literature reports on the main issues in order to implement self-care, but there are no models for the organization of the training course. We described the structure of training on self-care and its effects for a Hospital Palliative Care Unit.MethodWe used action-research training experience based mostly on qualitative data. Thematic analysis of data on open-ended questions, researcher’s field notes, oral and written feedback from the trainer and the participants (...) on training outcomes and satisfaction questionnaires were used.ResultsFour major themes emerged: “Professional role and personal feelings”; “Inside and outside the team”; “Do I listen to my emotions in the care relationship?”; “Death: theirs vs. mine.” According to participants’ point of view and researchers’ observations, the training course resulted in ameliorative adjustments of the program; improved skills in self-awareness of own’s emotions and sharing of perceived emotional burden; practicing “compassionate presence” with patients; shared language to address previously uncharted aspects of coping; allowing for continuity of the skills learned; translation of the language learned into daily clinical practices through specific facilitation; a structured staff’s support system for emotional experiences.DiscussionSelf-care is an important enabler for the care of others. The core of our intervention was to encourage a meta-perspective in which the trainees developed greater perspicacity pertaining to their professional role in the working alliance and also recognizing the contribution of their personal emotions to impasse experienced with patients. (shrink)

This volume presents a collection of about 80 very brief, accessible essays written by international experts from medicine, social sciences, and the humanities, ...

In this article, we present ideas related to three key aspects of mindfulness training: the regulation of attention via noradrenaline, the importance of working memory and its various components (particularly the central executive and episodic buffer), and the relationship of both of these to mind-wandering. These same aspects of mindfulness training are also involved in the preparation and execution of movement and implicated in the pathophysiology of psychosis. We argue that by moving in a mindful way, there may be an (...) additive effect of training as the two elements of the practice (mindfulness and movement) independently, and perhaps synergistically, engage common underlying systems (the default mode network). We discuss how working with mindful movement may be one route to mindfulness training for individuals who would struggle to sit still to complete the more commonly taught mindfulness practices. Drawing on our clinical experience working with individuals with severe and enduring mental health conditions, we show the real world application of these ideas and how they can be used to help those who are suffering and for whom current treatments are still far from adequate. (shrink)

During the lengthy and complex process of human evolution our ancestors had to adapt to extremely testing situations in which survival depended on making rapid choices that subjected muscles and the body as a whole to extreme tension. In order to seize a prey traveling at speeds that could reach 36 km per hour Homo sapiens had just thousandths of a second in which to anticipate the right moment and position himself before the prey arrived. He also had to prepare (...) the appropriate gesture, tensing his muscles and overcoming the resistance determined by body weight. While we are no longer faced with an environment that is anything so threatening, our brain continues to use these mechanisms day in day out to save time and energy, enabling us to avoid situations of danger, sense in advance the intentions of an interlocutor, and more besides. In this article we set out to show that our brain is not only a reactive mechanism, capable of reacting quickly to the stimuli that arrive from the external environment, but is above all a pro-active mechanism that allows us to make hypotheses, anticipate the consequences of actions, and formulate expectations: in short, to wrong foot an adversary. (shrink)

From a logical point of view, identity criteria should mirror the identity relation in being reflexive, symmetrical, and transitive. However, the relation representing the identity condition fails to be transitive in many cases. We consider the proposals given so far to give logical adequacy to inadequate identity conditions. We focus on the most refined proposal and expand its formal framework by taking into account two further aspects that we consider essential in the formal treatment of identity criteria: contexts and granular (...) levels. (shrink)

This book on the Tripurārahasya, a South Indian Sanskrit work which occupies a unique place in the Śākta literature, is a study of the Śrīvidyā and Śākta traditions in the context of South Indian intellectual history in the late middle ages. Associated with the religious tradition known as Śrīvidyā and devoted to the cult of the Goddess Tripurā, the text was probably composed between the 13th and the 16th century CE. The analysis of its narrative parts addresses questions about the (...) relationships between Tantric and Purāṇic goddesses. The discussion of its philosophical and theological teachings tackles problems related to the relationships between Sākta and Śaiva traditions. The stylistic devices adopted by the author(s) of the work deal uniquely with doctrinal and ritual elements of the Śrīvidyā through the medium of a literary and poetic language. This stylistic peculiarity distinguishes the Tripurārahasya from many other Tantric texts, characterized by a more technical language. The book is intended for researchers in the field of Asian Studies, Indology, Philosophical, Theological or Religious Studies, Hindu Studies, Tantric Studies and South Asian Religion and Philosophy, in particular those interested in Śākta and Śaiva philosophic-religious traditions. (shrink)

The text focuses on the status of sciences, starting from the psychiatric discipline, related to the crisis that from the 60s to today has threatened his epistemological presuppositions. Not otherwise, the other sciences, on the the wave of progress and technological development, end up reaching increasingly important results, paying the price of losing the condition and the aim of research and knowledge.

By exploring the nature of scientific representative practices, I shall define a methodology that relates the use of symmetry to specific practical functions. In order to expound this approach, I shall investigate the role played by the conception of symmetry in representative practices from a philosophical and epistemological perspective. The paper proceeds as follows. In the first part, I introduce the reasons why our conception of representative practices should consider the aims and the objectives towards which they direct their interest. (...) Secondly, by using symmetry as a case study, I try to show that philosophy can find fruitful pathways of interaction with sciences, as it is the case when it deals with the practical implications of the employment of symmetry in modeling. In the third section of the paper I shall refer to other examples that highlight the use of symmetry in scientific representative practices. I shall conclude with some remarks on the implications that this approach involves in epistemology, especially on our conception of objectivity and symmetry. (shrink)

The idea of an unchanging human nature has always had a special place in Western philosophical thought. Far from being uncontested, this idea has received criticism from different traditions of thought, which have seen it even as an obstacle to the understanding of ourselves. Now it appears in the shape of a renewed naturalism and the opposing forces are the same as in the past. This volume shows some lines of the current debate about human nature: the revival of Herodotus (...) and Protagoras's humanistic relativism and tolerance; Darwinian ethics; the critical relationship between neo-Aristotelian and neo-Kantian moral theories and the results of empirical science; the assumption about the existence of a “moral mind” based on an innate moral grammar; the multicultural political debate which considers the idea of human nature as a product and a tool of Western hegemony; and, finally, the reflection on sex and gender in the theory of difference and on the idea of "living" nature in the contemporary biopolitics. (shrink)

En el trabajo se propone difundir la teoría y los enfoques referidos a la ciencia de la sostenibilidad, con especial énfasis en el contexto académico cubano, al relacionar su emergencia a las urgencias que surgen en los vínculos entre la ciencia, la naturaleza y la sociedad, así como mostrar las articulaciones de la Ciencia de la Sostenibilidad con la política científica, la educación universitaria y la salud pública. In this paper, the theory and the approaches of the science of sustainability (...) is promoted. Special emphasis is put on the academic Cuban context, when relating its emergence to the urgencies that appear within the links among science, nature and society. The interconnections of the science of sustainability with the scientific policy, the university education and the public health is shown as well as. (shrink)

This monographic section questions the concept of domesticity, and some of its concrete developments, both as a principle of order and as a device through which historically and culturally variable differences and meanings are articulated – starting with those associated with it from the very beginning, namely the values of stability, solidity and centredness. The essays collected here challenge the idea of a separation between domestic and political space, which is made to coincide tout court with that between private and (...) public space. For a long time, this dichotomy relegated domesticity to a politically irrelevant dimension. Instead, it is the home as a political form that is here investigated and questioned. (shrink)

In this paper we develop the notion of formal precover in a topos by defining a relation between elements and sets in a local set theory. We show that such relations are equivalent to modalities and to universal closure operators. Finally we prove that these relations are well characterized by a convenient restriction to a particular set.

En la presente investigación se valoran las prácticas inclusivas de 6 1 docentes de educación básica de Colima, Sonora y San Luis Potosí adscritos a escuelas urbanas y rurales de México nominadas como exitosas. Se aplicaron varios instrumentos, como la GEPIA, la SACIE, el TEIP, el Cuestionario para Favorecer los Aprendizajes de Mitchell y el Protocolo C ODCA.

The essay records the changes in family organization for the importance of grandparents in these years of crisis. Their contribution is made in three areas: significant economic aid, organizational support, emotional support. It is an extraordinary contribution that has alleviated the consequences of the collapse, not just financial, of our country. But led by the generation that is usually defined as ‘lucky', a heavy existential commitment. The presence of grandparents, essential in cases of family separation to ensure security, continuity and (...) identity to the grandchildren, would entail the risk that their children, especially when they return to live in the family of origin, regress to a state of infantile dependence. The problems are not lacking, but the ethics of solidarity and generosity that are testifying is a heritage rich in possibilities and promises a view to a redefinition of "family form". (shrink)

The winds of change sweeping across our globalised world have inspired a wide range of studies, new research paradigms, and new concepts that seek to characterise their nature and effects, the chal...

1. Transmodernity, in the words of Irena Ateljevic, is “an umbrella term that connotes the emerging socio-cultural, economic, political and philosophical shift” which we are experiencing in the era...

From the seventies onward a large quantity of theoretical and empirical studies have investigated the heuristic principles and cognitive strategies that individuals use to deal with risky and uncertain situations. This research has shown how the explicative and predictive shortcomings of normative risk analysis depend in many respects on undervaluing the continuous interaction between the individual and the environment. There are factors that, day by day, represent significant obstacles to decision making.

O objetivo deste artigo é discutir a questão do abuso sexual, destacando a contribuição psicanalítica na compreensão do impacto do abuso sobre o desenvolvimento psíquico do indivíduo. Nas últimas décadas, observa-se um crescente interesse das pesquisas na identificação de diferentes aspectos do prob..

Body expression and dance are activities that contribute to the integral well-being of people. In an educational context, the process of evaluating our students implies variations in their moods. This study tackles the states of mind that students perceive before and after the evaluation of a practice in the subject ofBody expression and dance, developed through choreographies, that were, previously rehearsed, and later presented to the rest of the class in a specific session. Our main interest was the obtention of (...) information on the states of mind of the students prior to the evaluation of their choreographies, and again once they had been performed. The study design consisted of two phases: two different choreographies separated by an interval of 2 months. The students were asked about their moods before and after performing their choreographies, which were evaluated. The participants, 167 in total, 35 women and 132 men, aged 18 to 22 years old, filled out a POMS questionnaire, before and after the evaluation of each occasion. Differences were found in the stress-anxiety, vigor-activity, fatigue-immobility scales and the total mood score. In all of them, except for the fatigue-immobility scale, we found a decrease in scores after the performance, compared to scores before. For the Stress-Anxiety factor, lower values were observed in the post-tests in comparison to the pre-tests, and also lower values in the pre- and post-test scores regarding the second choreography. We conclude that the practical evaluation of the subject through choreography modifies the mood states of the students, favoring their well-being after its execution, which is why evaluation through practice is considered a positive element in the educational process. (shrink)

This paper presents a new diachronic corpus of the Italian language, i.e., CODIT (COrpus Diacronico dell’ITaliano ‘Diachronic corpus of Italian’). After a description of the corpus design, the second part of the article is devoted to show possible applications of the corpus in the morphological field, specifically in the domain of evaluative morphology. We highlight the corpus’ strengths and limitations through the diachronic analysis of two affixes, i.e., sopra- and -oide. The study contributes to shed light on the dynamism of (...) evaluative morphology by focusing on the loss of the intensification function suffered by sopra- and the emergence of an approximating value that currently affects -oide. (shrink)

This paper reviews the experience of an integrated approach to CSR in the U.S. electric utility sector. The authors report on the results of Southern Company’s historical definition of CSR as a dynamic model, balancing stakeholder needs through shifting pressures to assure long-term shareholder value, superior customer, price performance, and sustainable economic development. Using financial and utility sector measures, the paper assesses the company’s “balancing” approach to addressing CSR, which weights corporate, environmental, community, and economic factors in driving successful and (...) sustained financial, social, and environmental performance. The paper concludes by suggesting that CSR success in this sector requires, first, that the global warming issue be governed by the same balancing considerations to which all stakeholders and their legitimate interests are subject, and second, an energy policy that embraces both atechnology policy and appropriate regulatory incentives. (shrink)

This work describes the perceptions that Industrial Engineering students have regarding Colombian firms’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices. It also explores the incidence of gender, academic level, work experience and entrepreneurial intention on students’ vision. A survey with 70 CSR practices was designed based on previous research. Practices were grouped in ten dimensions: shareholders, customers, employees, suppliers, stakeholders, ethics, environment, legal, human rights and society. A representative sample of 142 students was used. Results show that students perceive a higher commitment (...) of Colombian companies with the shareholders dimension, while a lower with the society, ethics and environmental CSR practices. Work experience and entrepreneurial intention are the only variables affecting the identified perceptions. Thus, as they gain experience, their perceptions become more favorable. On the other hand, potential entrepreneurs have a more critical view on the companies’ commitment. Additionally, the fact that the academic level does not impact students’ perceptions constitutes a challenge for the academic program, since it is expected that this will affect the vision of future engineers. This is the first study that evaluates perceptions of Industrial Engineering students, who, given their object of study, will be responsible for designing and managing production processes in organizations of the future. Results respond to a specific context (students at a Colombian public university), therefore further research to explore the subject is recommended. (shrink)

Interleukin‐15 (IL‐15) is a pleiotropic cytokine of the 4 α‐helix bundle family, which binds to a receptor complex that displays common elements with the IL‐2 receptor and a unique high‐affinity α chain. This review focuses on juxtacrine and reverse signaling levels in the IL‐15/IL‐15R system. Specifically, we discuss how agonistic stimulation of membrane‐bound IL‐15 induces phosphorylation of members of the MAP kinase family and of focal adhesion kinase (FAK), thereby upregulating processes including cytokine secretion, cell adhesion and migration. In addition, (...) we explore IL‐15 trans‐presentation and intracellular signaling, and define promising molecular targets for future pharmacological intervention in infectious diseases and immunological disorders. These frontiers in IL‐15/IL‐15Rα research serve as highly instructive examples for key concepts, unsolved problems and therapeutic opportunities in juxtacrine and reverse signaling in general. BioEssays 28: 362–377, 2006. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

Le développement d’un droit de regard des institutions collectives sur les corps gestants et surtout d’une injonction à « se savoir et se faire savoir » enceinte remonte au xvie siècle au moins. Or la reconnaissance d’un état de grossesse et sa datation ont toujours constitué une double incertitude, face à laquelle divers procédés d’observation corporelle ont été mis en œuvre au cours des siècles. L’article aborde cette question dans le temps long (de l’époque moderne à la fin du xxe (...) siècle) en comparant les modalités et les enjeux pratiques de la détection des grossesses dans un certain nombre de situations d’ordre médico-légal : affaires d’infanticide (datant surtout du xixe siècle), lutte contre l’avortement (fin xixe-milieu xxe siècle), dossiers administratifs relatifs au non-versement d’allocations prénatales (1945-1970). Cette histoire de la socialisation de la gestation permet d’identifier les jeux d’expertise, de médiations et de négociations auprès de femmes enceintes se disant non informées de leur propre état et propose une histoire sociale du doute, de la corporéité et de la conscience de soi. (shrink)